14. Goodbye
Jack was in a very bad way. He had a terrible headache and his stomach was in knots, but even worse was the indignity at being lectured… like a schoolboy...by the very evil which he had sought to destroy! Not to mention the way Red Riding Hood fawned all over the great oaf! Was she that completely naive? Could she not distinguish between a real hero... like himself... and a repulsive freak who just happened to be in a good mood at the moment? It galled him to no end. What good men like him had to put up with! But now his stomach cramped up again, and if he hadn't been so righteous in his cause, he might have regretted eating all of that pie before.
"He's rather nice, after all," Red Riding Hood thought as the giant walked beside her, looking down to her every so often to make sure she was alright. "He's even carrying my basket for me; not even Jack or the three pigs ever offered to do that!" She had to admit that there was still much to learn about the world. Maybe Jack had been wrong before, when he said that certain creatures were bad simply by way of being what they were. She tightened her cape as they approached the front gate, and received her basket from Cranch. "Thank you," she said timidly. "For everything."
My, my! What an adventure she'd had! She couldn't wait to tell her grandmother.
The three little pigs were also suffering from eating too much pie, but they were experienced overeaters, and would simply wait for it to pass. The giant had turned out to be a nice fellow after all. They wondered if he would ever discover that Jack still had a great many of his coins and precious jewels stashed away in his pockets. If not, they would ask Jack about it when they got far enough away from the castle. After all, he did promise to divide the spoils evenly...
When they reached the front gate, Cranch simply nodded and ushered them through. Red Riding Hood was the only one who turned around and waved, and he caught her eye and smiled. A feeling of tenderness spread over him as he realized they were all going home, to their families, to their loved ones. What family did he have? Besides Raven, of course. Perhaps it was time to put the past behind him, and make a new life for himself. It was something to consider. He turned and went back to the castle.
15.Return
Raven met him at the front door. "I've taken an inventory of everything they made off with," he said. "It wasn't really much, in the grand scheme of things. I suppose you noticed those fools were still wearing the diamond jewelry, and that greedy little brat had his pockets stuffed with coins as they were leaving?"
Cranch marched past him, hardly listening. "Well, good for them," he muttered, making his way straight to the wine cellar. He went right to the edge, and looked inside. But instead of a wolf, the body of Julima, the woman, lay prone among the bottles.
"You survived a forty-foot plummet down a chimney onto a blazing fire," he called down to her. "Don't expect me to believe you can't withstand a ten-foot fall into a wine cellar. I know you're not dead. Now get up!"
Once she had been thrown into the well, Graytail had gotten not only the wind but the entire fight knocked out of her. Seeing her quarry escape once more...unscathed and unpunished... and suffering terribly from both the fall and the shards of glass from the wine bottles that cut into her body, she finally surrendered. She knew she'd been beaten. So the giant was on their side, after all. She was the only villain in this whole affair.
And why was that? She'd saved this fool's life. Why was she being singled out as the bad one? Because she wasn't human like the others? Well, the pigs weren't human either. But they were under a curse. And they were cute, like little blond blue-eyed Red Riding Hood and equally adorable Jack the Giant Killer. And look at how easily the giant had treated them! Well, maybe if she changed back into human form as Julima, she too might stand a chance.
There was no more fight or anger within her. She tried to remember what her friend the Black Woman had told her the first time she'd given her a human form. "Think of what a human looks like, try to imagine one in your head. Then imagine yourself possessing those same features. Hands that can grasp, two legs instead of four, smaller feet, and an upright, hairless body. Except for the scalp; humans grow their hair from the top only. And no tail..." and it was very fortunate for Graytail that the Black Woman's magic had stayed with her, for while Cranch and the others were gone, she was able to reclaim her human form once more.
Now, as Julima, she slowly staggered to her feet and looked up at Cranch with pitiful eyes. "Please," she begged, "Kind person, have mercy on me."
Her plea fell on deaf ears. Cranch reached down and grabbed her arm, yanked her roughly out of the well, and slammed her up against the wall. She moaned in agony.
"Stop your whimpering...I can see right through you!" Cranch hissed. "How dare you bite me like that! Who and what are you, really? What was your involvement in this whole scenario... I want the truth!" His eyes burned into her, and his breath was hot on her neck. He kept her pinned fast to the wall.
Julima knew she was going to die; the giant felt no pity for her. So she opted to tell the truth…she might as well, there was no escape anyway. Redeye had been right... her quest for revenge had only brought more misery upon her.
In the flat, expressionless voice of the condemned, she confessed everything. Who the little girl was, the terrible thing she had done, and her own subsequent plans for revenge, which included stealing back the medicine the little girl's mother had stolen herself. She spoke about her friendship with the Black Woman, who was the only human she'd ever liked and trusted, and who'd given her temporary human form. She told him about the three pigs and how they'd been punished for stealing, and of course, about Jack and how he'd lured everyone into his grand giant-killing schemes. Then she explained how (and why) she had saved the raven from being shot, and how her own misgivings had finally turned her and convinced her to rescue both Cranch and his friend.
"And the rest," she concluded tiredly, "you know." Her whole body ached, and bits of glass still stuck to her. Her only hope now was that death would come quickly.
Raven, who had been listening from outside the kitchen, now flew in and settled on a perch above the wine cellar, curious as to what would happen next.
Cranch released her, and spoke evenly. "So, the big bad wolf is foiled again, eh? The girl in the red cape gets away once more, and the villain is left to be punished...Ha! Well then, my dear, here is your punishment…" He cleared his throat, then continued:
"You and whatever's left of your family...for all wolves are villains, aren't they?… are hereby sentenced to a life forever on this mountain with me, in these vast, expansive woods. The only thing you'll have to eat are the deer, elk, boar, hares, rabbits, squirrels, groundhogs, waterfowl, game birds and whatever else you can find to hunt in these forests… and believe me, there's quite a lot of them, so you'll have your work cut out for you. You will have to drink from the clear cold rivers that run through here, and you will have only clean, fresh air to breathe. Poor wretches! And to add to your misery, there will be no little children passing through here on their way to their grandmother's for you to complain about. You'll be made to feel the warmth of the sun on your backs during the day, and you'll be condemned to howl to a brilliant full moon on a crisp autumn night. And never again will you be able to escape the hunter's wrath, because... well, because there are no hunters here for you to escape. Too bad, eh?"
Julima was dumbfounded. "But..."
"As for you, personally, you will have an additional punishment. Even as you spend your time as a wolf running through the forests with your own people, you will nevertheless have to spend at least part of your time as Julima, the woman, helping me out in my castle. You'll be forced to share in the household chores, take your meals with me, and help me run my household. And of course, you'll have to share my great wealth."
"Better volunteer to do the cooking yourself," Raven chimed in, "Trust me, you'll thank me for that. Unless you're a glutton for punishment."
"...And that's what you get for all the trouble you've caused me." Cranch's eyes sparkled playfully and there was the slightest hint of a smile about his lips.
Julima was still confused. "So…you're not going to kill me after all?"
Cranch threw back his head and for the first time in many years, his laughter rang throughout the castle.
"Kill you? How could I ever kill you? You saved my life... remember? And you rescued my best friend here, twice... and I value his life as much as my own." He put his arms around her gently, and picked a shard of glass off of her. Then he grew stern once more. "But don't you ever try to bite me like that again, or I swear I'll give you such a sound thrashing you'll wish that I had killed you. Are we clear on that?"
"Absolutely," Julima nodded, wincing slightly.
"Good. I may be a bit easy-going, and I think I'm actually starting to like you, but don't ever mistake me for a pushover."
Julma hung her head. "I won't, I promise. I really am sorry for that...I was just so desperate to get at that girl..."
"Well, maybe you should let that go, once and for all." Cranch admonished. "It seems to me that your crazy vendetta made you do things you normally wouldn't do, and it's brought you nothing but sadness and bad luck."
Julima laughed dryly, knowing he was right. "You know, you sound just like my brother."
"Well, then your brother must be a very wise creature. I hope I can meet him once your family gets settled on the mountain. We can all begin a new life... a better one. We've had enough hard times already, wouldn't you agree? Now come here..." He pulled a small familiar bottle out of his shirt pocket, and poured some medicine onto a piece of cloth. "Let me take care of those cuts and bruises on you. Trust me, this stuff works wonders."
"The magic elixir!" Julima cried. "How did you..."
"I offered to carry the girl's basket when we were getting ready to leave," Cranch chuckled, as he brushed away pieces of glass and smoothed the medicine over her skin. "I switched the bottle with Jack's whiskey flask when she wasn't looking...he left it on the table. Now, I don't know how Jack's whiskey will sit with poor sick grandma, but I suppose that's the risk you take when your daughter's a thief." He winked, then placed the cap back onto the bottle. Julima was speechless.
"Raven, do me a favor, please." Raven flew to the table, awaiting instructions. "There's still plenty of medicine left... could you fly this over to the forest down in the valley, and bring it to the Black Woman? I hear she wants it back." He grinned at Julima. Raven gripped the small bottle in his talons, and took off.
Julima couldn't help but stare in amazement. It was all happening so fast. "But... won't Jack notice his whiskey flask is gone?"
Cranch gazed out the window as Raven sailed over the treetops. "To be honest, I don't think he and the pigs will get very far, after all the pie they've eaten. It must have been really good; they ate every last crumb."
"It's just pie," Julima frowned. "That won't stop them."
"Just pie! Why, Julima! I baked it with special berries... yew berries, to be exact. The mountain is full of them. Yes, I know... yew berries are poisonous. Deadly, in fact. The toxins don't take effect right away, but they should be feeling a little dizzy and nauseous right about now...and I dare say within the next hour, the poison should be well into their system. And then we won't have to worry about them ever again."
Julima gazed at him with just a little fear and a newfound sense of admiration. "So you had a trick up your sleeve all along!"
Cranch was still smiling. "Julima, give me some credit. I didn't make it this far in life by being a fool. I knew Jack would return someday... I baked that pie just for him. Hey, I asked him not to eat it, didn't I? But he was greedy, and spiteful, and he has no one to blame but himself.
"So you see, my dear, you're not the only one in this world with a score to settle. I just don't let anger and hate get the better of me...or else I'll lose sight of who I am and what I really want, and innocent bystanders get hurt along the way.
"Now, stop staring at me with that shocked look on your face, and let's get you cleaned up. You must be famished... we've been through a lot, haven't we? Go rest, I'll fix us a nice supper... and don't worry, I'll quite understand if you want to skip dessert."
